title: Use of alternative medicine by patients attending a gastroenterology clinic.
abstract: We carried out a study to determine the proportion of patients attending a university-based gastroenterology outpatient clinic who sought alternative medical care for the same health problem that had prompted them to see a gastroenterologist. After the patients completed a self-administered questionnaire, the gastroenterologist gave a diagnosis and assigned a functional rating. Of the 395 patients 287 (73%) had not used alternative medicine, and 36 (9%) had sought alternative medical care for the problem that had prompted them to see a gastroenterologist. There were no significant differences between alternative medicine users and nonusers in sociodemographic characteristics, use of health care services or general health status. Patients with a functional disease were more likely to seek alternative medical care than those with organic disease (33% v. 7%) (p less than 0.0001). Fewer alternative medicine users (54%) than nonusers (85%) were satisfied with conventional medicine (p less than 0.001), and more alternative medicine users (49%) than nonusers (13%) were very sceptical of conventional medicine (p less than 0.0001).
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Alta.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Verhoef
authors.forename: L R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Sutherland
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brkich
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012044:Regression Analysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires